Republican tax “debate” is baloney

At the most recent Republican presidential debate [Oct. 18, 2011], Herman Cain parried all questions about his 9-9-9 tax plan by saying that his critics were comparing apples to oranges. Well, maybe. At least they were talking about a real policy issue—taxation. But from what I heard, I’d say they were comparing baloney to bullcrap. Why? Because the obvious premise underlying these so-called debates is simple: taxes are bad.

The notion that taxes are a negative aspect of our democracy has become conservative dogma that, unfortunately, goes essentially unchallenged during the infomercial/game shows—predominantly sponsored by conservative groups, not by independent news-gathering organizations—that are being passed off as “debates” by Fox, CNN and even PBS. I have yet to hear a single host/journalist/newsreader ask a candidate to explain how, under the slash-and-burn ideology of tax cutting, we’re supposed to do what our government is charged with doing. [And yes, I do understand that virtually all of the Republican candidates want to cut taxes as a way of starving government until it’s so small that it can’t get in the way of their god—the free market.] Just once, I’d like someone to ask the Republican candidates to name a tax that they would not reduce, or, better yet, to define their view of the proper role of taxation for our country.

In Republican circles, every discussion of taxes focuses on participles like reducing, cutting, eliminating and flattening, and nouns like burden and relief. This framing isn’t new, as anyone who’s read anything by linguist George Lakoff knows. The overwhelming and unchallenged anti-tax message pushes the assumption that there is no tax that is good, and that there’s no tax that’s too small to cut. That notion flies in the face of the reality of everyday life in this country, where we all rely on—and expect—tax-supported services in hundreds of ways—both large and small.

Unfortunately, the conservative message has become so predominant that, often, interviewers, pundits, and progressive politicians and individuals forget that it’s based on a false assumption, and that we need to stand up, challenge the premise, and counter it [even when facts don’t count].

To her great credit, Elizabeth Warren did just that recently, when she made her now famous statement about corporate wealth and fairness:

“You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did.

“Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”

It’s also worth reminding ourselves and others of some of the specific ways that we all rely on taxes . The following list has been in my files for almost 10 years, which shows how long the conservative anti-tax meme has been infiltrating our consciousness. I’m sure many readers have a similar list, so I’m not pretending that I’m breaking any news here. Some of these examples seem obvious, but I think they bear repeating—often and loudly. Here are some highlights, in no particular order. Memo to Anderson Cooper and “debate” hosts: How about trying some of these out on the next show?